The rest of the event went smoothly. However, Adam was unable to watch the rest due to accidentally falling asleep in the bleachers.
"Adam, wake up!" [???]
Jolting awake, Adam was left a bit disoriented.
"Huh?" [Adam]
It took a moment for him to focus. Blinking away the drowsiness, he quickly realized he was in his room.
"Are you awake yet?" [???]
Suddenly noticing another presence, Adam flinched.
"Holy shit! Vivian?! Don't scare me like that!" [Adam]
There stood his dear sister, looking down on him with a scowl.
"Felix brought you home. Apparently there was this "dare" you took?" [Vivian]
"Ah…" [Adam]
Hearing that, the memories rushed to him.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Yesterday…
"Hey, Adam. I dare you to eat this entire bottle of melatonin." [Orion]
Holding out a jar of gummies, Orion offered it with a sinister smile.
"Are you crazy?! He'll die!" [Felix]
"Yeah, I can't say I recommend that." [Alex]
Still staring at the jar, Adam crossed his arms.
"What do I get out of it?" [Adam]
"Adam, please don't. You won't wake up again if you do that." [Felix]
"You won't. Your body is most definitely capable of resisting such puny things." [Astos]
"For once, I can actually vouch for that. You've become resistant to a lot of things. I can't really list it all for you though." [Krino]
Orion took a moment to think about it. After pondering for a bit, he took out his wallet.
"Twenty bucks." [Orion]
"Bet." [Adam]
"Wait no-!" [Felix]
Grabbing the jar before Felix could react, Adam downed it within seconds.
"C-C-Call the hospital!" [Felix]
"Calm down. Just give it a sec." [Orion]
Adam sat upright, waiting for something to happen.
"...Maybe it hasn't kicked in yet?" [Brandon]
"How do you feel?" [Sora]
Adam closed his hands and opened them.
"I feel alright." [Adam]
"That's a relief." [Tiffany]
Orion clicked his tongue.
"Damn, that's twenty bucks down the drain. Here you go" [Orion]
As he handed over the prize, Adam's vision started to blur.
"Uh-oh." [Adam]
"Uh-oh?" [Orion]
It was then that he went limp.
"Oh shit!" [Alex]
"Tiffany! Heal him!" [Felix]
As everything started to fade away, Adam could hear his friend's panicked voices.
("That was so stupid of me…") [Adam]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Back to the present…
"You know, it was a pretty good idea at the moment." [Adam]
"At the moment? Are you serious?" [Vivian]
"Yeah. Now, can you get out? I feel sweaty, so I'm gonna change my clothes." [Adam]
He tugged at his shirt collar.
"Alright- Huh?!" [Vivian]
Eyes wide open, she grabbed Adam's collar.
"Woah! What are you doing?!" [Adam]
"Where's the necklace I gave you?!" [Vivian]
"Necklace? Oh…" [Adam]
He recalled it breaking during his fight with the guardian, but he wasn't sure how to explain it.
"Well… Things happened." [Adam]
Vivan backed away.
"Things? …You are Adam, right?" [Vivian]
She put on a cautious expression.
"Are you worried about Astos?" [Adam]
"Astos? Is that what you call yourself?" [Vivian]
Adam was starting to see a huge misunderstanding building up.
"Hold on! I'm Adam. Not the stupid god stuck in me!" [Adam]
"You dare call me stupid?!" [Astos]
"Shut up, Astos! I'm not talking to you right now!" [Adam]
Shouting out his anger, Astos grew impatient.
"Don't think I'll take this lying down!" [Astos]
Attempting to take over Adam's body, he was forcefully dropped by Askyros' soul remnant.
"How?! I can't understand how a mere human can have such a large amount of willpower! Their lifespans aren't long enough to have this much strength!" [Astos]
As Astos struggled within Adam's body, Adam spent some time explaining things to his sister.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"...To sum things up, an old man from another dimension also lives in you." [Vivian]
"That's… a weird way to put it. You couldn't have said that an ultra strong soul is protecting me from the evil god?" [Adam]
"Does the way I word things really matter?" [Vivian]
"Er… Not really…" [Adam]
The misunderstanding was cleared up after a thorough discussion. However, there were a few concerns.
"Do you… need a new necklace?" [Vivian]
Adam thought about it for a moment.
("Do I really need it?") [Adam]
Thinking about it now, Askyros' remnants was more than enough to deal with Astos.
"...Why do I feel like you just insulted me?" [Astos]
("You must be imagining it.") [Adam]
With everything considered, Adam refused.
"Nah. I don't need it anymore." [Adam]
Vivian looked at him with mixed emotions. Pride and anxiety welled up inside her.
"You've grown up." [Vivian]